Buzzer beater leads Miege to NIT title

Tuesday

Jan 29, 2013 at 8:10 AMJan 29, 2013 at 8:10 AM

By Mark Schnabel Newton Kansan

The Olathe Northwest Ravens saw a comeback from a double-digit deficit late in the game get destroyed by Bishop Miege’s Kelsey Wolf, who hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to give the Stags a 50-47 win Saturday night in the championship game of the 37th Newton Invitational girls’ basketball tournament. Meige, in just its fourth NIT, wins its first title. Northwest tied the game with 28.2 seconds remaining, coming back from 11 points down early in the fourth quarter. “That was a good shot,” Wolf said. “I just shot it, hoped that it would go in and that we would win. It took a lot of composure, teamwork and heart.” Lexie Hughes led Miege with 14 points. “It was tough, but I knew if we would stay in it, in the fast pace they were playing, we just had to go down and score everytime,” Hughes said. “We just kept shooting.” That was the play we go to when we need a shot,” Miege coach Terry English said. “We have two options and the second one was open.” It was the second game Miege had in the tournament where the Stags had to hold off a late comeback, surviving one in the opener against Garden City. “We don’t have a lot of size, and we’ve been playing some pretty big teams around the basket. Northwest hit a couple bombs, but they were able to go inside against us. They were able to get to the free throw line and get back in the game. We missed some free throws, and they hit some. We hung on, we executed when we needed to win.” Miege improves to 11-3. English called the NIT a possible preview of the Class 5A state tournament. “Kapaun had a great chance of getting there, Newton has a great chance of getting there and we have a great chance of getting there,” English said. “There could be come repeat games there.” Northwest was led by Kelsey Brooks with 17 points and Vashti Neal with 12 points. “We had to play a really tough game last night (a narrow win over Kapaun-Mt. Carmel),” Northwest coach Joel Branstrom said. “We looked tired at the beginning. Miege played well early on. We didn’t play with the kind of energy we needed to against a team as well-disciplined as Miege. They have a program with a lot of tradition.” Northwest falls to 9-4. “We play one of the toughest schedules in the state of Kansas,” Branstrom said. “We played the no. 1 team from Minnesota. We played the no. 1 team in Missouri. We beat the no. 1 team undefeated Maize last week. We beat the no. 1 undefeated 5A team last night. We played an 11-time, something like that, state champion today. Our league is pretty tough. We’ll be ready at the end of the season.” Northwest jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but Miege stormed back to lead 13-12 at the end of the period. Miege scored the first five points of the second quarter, followed by a 6-0 Northwest run. Miege ended the half with a 5-0 run to lead 23-18. Miege opened the third quarter on a 5-0 run. After Northwest broke the run with a layup, Hughes hit a trey to put the Stags up by 11 with 3:43 remaining in the period. The Ravens drew within seven, but Miege led 35-26 at the end of the quarter. The two teams traded two baskets each in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. Northwest got back in the game with a pair of free throws and a trey by Brooks. Northwest drew within three on a Vashti Neal trey with 2:44 remaining. A Neal trey with 33.8 seconds remaining got the Ravens within two. Brooks then got a steal and hit a layup, which tied the game. She missed a free throw on the play.